1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic tablet packing apparatus, wherein a desired one of tablets received in a plurality of tablet cassettes is automatically discharged and packed on a per dose basis based on a medical prescription. More particularly, the present invention relates to an automatic tablet packing apparatus having sliding racks, wherein a tablet discharge structure, arranged in an upper region of the automatic tablet packing apparatus, is constructed by sliding racks each including left and right partition walls, a tablet discharge passage being defined between the left and right partition walls, whereby the table discharge passage between the respective neighboring partition walls is revealed to the outside when the left partition wall or the right partition wall of each sliding rack is individually pulled out, thus enabling easy cleaning of the tablet discharge passage.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIGS. 1 to 3 are, respectively, a front view, a side view and a plan view schematically illustrating a conventional automatic tablet packing apparatus having sliding racks as disclosed in Korean Patent Registration No. 10-0498727 and Korean Utility Model Registration No. 20-0274355. The conventional automatic tablet packing apparatus includes a body 1, and a tablet arrangement structure arranged in an upper region of the body 1, the table arrangement structure being configured such that a plurality of tablet cassettes C configured to receive tablets is mounted on cassette pedestals. In addition, provided in a lower region of the body 1 are hoppers 41, 43 and 45 to collect the tablets discharged and dropped from the tablet cassettes C, a printer 34 to print a variety of information on a surface of tablet packing paper, and a packing device 30 to pack the collected tablets, having passed through the hoppers 41, 43 and 45, by use of the packing paper.
The tablet arrangement structure arranged in the upper region of the body 1 include sliding racks 10, and door mounts 20 connected to the body 1 by means of hinges 20a, the cassette pedestals and tablet cassettes C stacked in multiple layers being mounted to the sliding racks 10 and door mounts 20. In the conventional automatic tablet packing apparatus, an upper frame of the body 1 is provided with upper and lower guide rails and thus, the sliding racks 10 are able to slide forward and rearward along the guide rails. The cassette pedestals are attached to left and right partition walls of each sliding rack 10, and in turn, the tablet cassettes C are stacked one above another on the cassette pedestals. These cassette pedestals and tablet cassettes C must be separable for cleaning of a tablet discharge passage 11.
The tablet discharge passage 11 is defined between the left and right partition walls of each sliding rack 10. The left and right partition walls are kept at fixed positions by means of couplers (not shown) provided inside the partition walls.
In the above-described conventional automatic tablet packing apparatus, when it is necessary to clean the tablet discharge passage 11 of the sliding rack 10, the sliding rack 10 is first pulled out as shown in FIG. 3 and then, all the cassette pedestals and the tablet cassettes C mounted to the sliding rack 10 are separated from the sliding rack 10. Thereafter, the partition walls defining the tablet discharge passage 11 are separated from the sliding rack 10 so as to be subjected to cleaning. This is very laborious and time-consuming work.